Huntsville, Alabama

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Huntsville Business Signs

Huntsville is located in the center part of the northern portion of the current US state of Alabama. Prior to incursions by citizens of the United States, this area of the continent had been inhabited by Muscogee-speaking peoples. In fact, the Chickasaw settled in the region around 1300 A.D. However, at the dawn of the nineteenth century, the 1805 Treaty with the Chickasaws and the Cherokee Treaty of Washington of 1806 ceded native claims to this area to the United States Government.

John Hunt, who was a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, settled in the land around the Big Spring in 1805. Following Hunt’s settlement, the land was bought by LeRoy Pope, who named it Twickenham, after the English home village of his distant and famous kinsman Alexander Pope. The younger Pope built a city on this land, but by then anti-British sentiment had taken root and the name was changed to ‘Huntsville’, after John Hunt. Huntsville, Alabama was established in 1809, incorporated into a town in 1811, and incorporated into a city in 1860.

Today, according to a 2015 estimate by the US Census Bureau, Huntsville, Alabama has a total population of 190,582. This makes it the fourth most populous city in the state of Alabama and the 125th most populous city in the nation. According to that same estimate, Huntsville’s Metropolitan Area has a total population of 441,086. This makes it the second most populous metropolitan area in the state and the 118th most populous metropolitan area in the United States.

Huntsville, Alabama has several primary economic sectors. One of these sectors is that of biotechnology. In fact, Huntsville, Alabama is home to over 25 biotechnology firms due to the Huntsville Biotech Initiative. The city is home to Cummings Research Park, which is the second largest biotechnology research park in the country. Huntsville has fifty-seven Fortune 500 companies with operations in the area. Companies with their headquarters based in Huntsville, Alabama include ADTRAN, Intergraph, Avocent, and Deltacom, Inc.

Undoubtedly, however, the largest industry in the Huntsville, Alabama area is that of aerospace. There’s a reason why people have given the area the nickname “Rocket City.” Redstone Arsenal, built in 1941 and currently controlled by the United States Army, garrisons United States Army Materiel Command, Army’s Aviation and Missile Command, the Missile Defense Agency of the Department of Defense, and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. As one could guess, Redstone Arsenal is a truly massive installation. In fact, in 2010, all its facilities combined had a total population of 1,946 with 36,000 to 40,000 government and contracted workers commuting there on a daily basis.

The Marshall Space Flight Center, which opened in 1960, is “the U.S. government’s civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center.” It is, in fact, the largest NASA center. Its first mission was to “develop the Saturn launch vehicles for the Apollo moon program.” It was also the location for Project Paperclip, which brought “former” Nazi scientists to the US in order to develop NASA’s space program during the sixties. It has subsequently had a hand in Space Shuttle propulsion and International Space Station (ISS) design and assembly.

Huntsville, Alabama isn’t all about the military and space, however. One of its many tourist areas is Big Spring Park, which is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. This park was built around its namesake “Big Spring,” which holds the distinction of being the original water source for the city.As for sports franchises, Huntsville is fit to bursting with them. Dixie Derby Girls is a Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. They play their matches at the NSS Conference Center/Skate Odyssey. Southern Professional Hockey League’s Huntsville Havoc play their home matches at the Von Braun Center and have one playoff championship to their names. Women’s Spring Football League’s Tennessee Valley Tigers play their home games at Milton Frank Stadium.

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